I can help my child myself, I don’t need a speech therapist.
I hear ya! Trust me. I’ve been there with my own kids. I have three. Two of them have benefited from speech therapy, and it wasn’t with me! I know, I know. “But aren’t you a speech therapist?” was the reaction I heard when I told them I was taking my child to speech therapy. Yes, I am a speech therapist. And, yes, I did try to help my child myself by doing the normal speech therapy things I do with others. But you know what, they didn’t respond to me like my clients do. My children didn’t benefit from my cues and my instructions to use certain strategies and try different techniques and practice the skills and REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT. And guess what! When I took them to a different speech therapist… a complete stranger….they did better! Not because she had different goals, but simply because she wasn’t their mom.
Children learn a lot from their parents. We teach them how to play, walk, tie their shoes, interact with others, use manners, improve their vocabulary, read better, play sports, and talk! But if there is a problem, like not being able to walk by a certain age, we consult with a physician who then likely recommends a physical therapist. The specialist then evaluates and finds the exact reasons he/she is having difficulty. Once they determine the root cause, they make specific goals to address the deficit areas. Then, during treatment, they continually assess and adapt the therapy to make the most progress. They know the fine details and little differences of one movement versus another. It is their expertise that helps one progress to the next level. And, they are not their mother.
Children want to make their parents happy. They need love and reassurance from their parents. What they don’t need is a parent continually assessing them and attempting to change them. They need your love and your support, and they need to know you are proud of them. Encourage them to do their best and tell them how great they are doing.
Sometimes I get requests from parents without meeting their child to “just tell me what to do with my child to help them speak better”, and “I can work on speech with them at home, I don’t need a speech therapist to do it”. Trust me when I tell you, it is our goal to help you help your child. In fact, it is my personal biggest goal to have the child’s own family members be able to guide them into better communication. Many of our treatment sessions are focused on providing education and instruction with the family members in how to best communicate with their child and how to help the child become better communicators. During therapy we do exactly what you ask….tell you what you can do with your child to help them speak better. But we cannot do that without meeting them and without giving them a full assessment analyzing all areas of speech and language. And there are many more areas than one would think! I assure you, your child will make significantly more progress when given the opportunity to work with a skilled speech therapist.
Have you ever thought, “hairdressers are so expensive….I could probably cut my own hair….I’ll watch a YouTube video. Yes, I can definitely do this.” Ummm, guilty right here! Same goes for coloring my own hair. I confess. I tried it. And no, it didn’t go well. Looking back, I wish I had taken the time to make an appointment with a hairdresser who had proper training and a lot more experience. But, the choice is yours!
